In part 1 we learned about the picture book makers. Take a look here.
In part 2 we learned about the characters. Take a look here.
For those of you who can’t be bothered with parts 1 & 2 (and who can blame you – we’re all very busy), here is the short version of what’s going on here. I read 1000 picture books. I took lots of notes. I gathered all the results. Now, I’m sharing them with the world.
This post is a look at genre and theme and topic. They are all a bit overlappy, but I organized them as best I could. This was a difficult statistic to track. It’s easy to determine if a book is an alphabet book or a biography, but determining if a book is about family, or imagination, or solving problems is a bit more subjective, especially when many books cover multiple themes. You’ll see what I mean once we get into it.
And were off…
Genre:
464 – Humorous or Quirky
243 – Serious
140 – Concept
53 – Biography
49 – Sweet
47 – Lyrical
42 – Bedtime
29 – Fractured fairy tale
9 – Bilingual (all Spanish)
8 – Holiday
8 – Poetry
7 – Religious
7 – Fable
4 – LGBTQ
Please, don’t ask me what I mean by humorous, serious, and sweet. It’s just a really sloppy way of me saying they didn’t fit in the other categories and that’s how I felt when I read them. Ambiguous? Definitely!
Themes:
114 – Being yourself/Self discovery
82 – Friendship
72 – Manners/Kindness
64 – Overcoming obstacles
62 – Discovery/Trying new things
55 – Nature
49 – Emotions/Feelings
34 – The Arts
32 – Adventure
30 – History/Government/Civil rights
26 – Reading/Books
24 – Family
21 – Coping with loss
20 – Imagination
19 – Pets
18 – Science
14 – Birthdays
13 – New siblings
12 – First day of school
11 – Growing up
9 – Bullying
7 – Love
7 – Survival
6 – Transportation/Travel
5 – Fitness/Hygiene
5 – Moving
Fiction/Nonfiction:
862 – Fiction
106 – Nonfiction
24 – A pleasant mix of both
8 – Inexplicably not recorded – hmmm?
Now, another look at word counts in relation to F/NF books
Fiction over 1000 words – 49; Fiction under 1000 words – 784
Nonfiction over 1000 words – 49; Nonfiction under 1000 words – 58
Those with a pleasant mix over 1000 words – 5; Those under 1000 words – 19
A closer look at concept books:
39 – Nature
17 – Counting
16 – Alphabet
10 – Science
7 – History
6 – Shapes, Emotions
5 – Colors, Family, Reading
4 – Opposites, Manners
3 – Creating, Development, Jobs
2 – Travel, Self care, Language, Sizes, Arts
1 – Days of the week
And what are the three most popular fairy tales to twist?
5 – Little Red Riding Hood
3 – Goldilocks
2 – Hansel and Gretel
I had two disappointments with my data collection. I wish I had recorded meta/interactive books. I love meta books, and I know I came across quite a few. Also I wish I had kept better track of multi-cultural or diverse books. I did take notes on character ethnicity, but that isn’t exactly the same thing. Next time.
Again, please ask lots of questions? After all, I didn’t do all of this work for my own pleasure. Wait a minute, that’s exactly why I did it. But I still love to share.
Now move on to Part 4: Point of View and Settings
Thank you. You are a great sharer and I appreciate that you have. 🙂
Thanks, Cecilia. I’m always happy to do my part.
What you’ve done is fantastic! If you do this again in the near future, it would be very interesting to compare the lists and see what changes may have occurred.
Thanks, Lauri. I am surprised by the response to this project, so now, I’m thinking of ways to continue, improve, expand, augment. So many possibilities.
This series has proven extremely enlightening, David. It has, also, inspired me to read more PBs and to find some specific parameters to investigate. Thank you so very much for sharing your hard work… I’m sure it has proved helpful in your writing, as well.
Thank you, Cindy. I’m sure this has been helpful in ways I will never know. In the end, hopefully, better writing. The results you are seeing were not my original plan. I just wanted to read and take some notes – It took on a life of its own after I got going. If I had planned ahead I would have had some different parameters.
Thanks for sharing David. I am finding this blog series very interesting. Helps identify what is overdone in picture book market. Do you think it has helped you with your own writing? I think I might feel overwhelmed and that everything has been done before.
I think everything has been done, or some variation. At first it was frustrating, but then my brain switched over. I felt freer. I discovered that I could write anything I wanted, as long as I made it my own. Instead of just finding a clever ideas, I’m developing a strong individual voice and improving my writing skills to try and stand out.
I’ve taken upon myself to study a picture book a week from an author/Illustrator perspective. It’s proven quite insightful too. It’s now been 6 months and I feel like I have learned so much already. I love those kinds of excercises and yours is very insightful on so many levels. Thank you for sharing.
It is incredibly helpful. Sounds like you are really taking your time with each book. I’m slowing down this year, taking less notes, and really soaking in the details.